A Bigger Yes - 2 - Sunday February 14, 2016
But Joseph refused. "Look," he told her, "my master trusts me with everything in his entire household. No one here has more authority than I do. He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God." Genesis 39:8-9 NLT
Someone said, "It's easier to say 'no' when you have a bigger 'yes' on the inside." Have you ever heard that?
And so Joseph, when Potiphar's wife attempted to seduce him, resisted her charms. She must have been a beautiful woman. She probably looked good, smelled good, and she was after Joseph. It says in the scripture that she repeatedly pursued him.
But Joseph resisted her seductive temptations! He couldn't run away because he was a slave of the household. But he had a bigger "yes" on the inside, so he said to her, "If I did that, I would be sinning against God. I'm a God-fearing man."
Then one day Potiphar's wife grabs Joseph and his coat. So he runs out and leaves his coat. As a result this garment became the evidence that she used to put him in prison, falsely accused. There he gave himself to the work in prison and became the equivalent of the chief jailer. He made the most of his worst circumstances. He was all in, because he saw that God had a bigger plan.
I'm sure Joseph didn't understand it all or figure it all out. He didn't know how God's plan was going to unfold. But he knew he was a part of something much bigger than himself. Since he had a bigger "yes" on the inside, he was able to say no to the outside temptations. It's much easier to say "no" when you have God's bigger "yes" on the inside.
Submitted by:
Doug Brown
Faithwalkers East 2014
Joseph: Heroism in the Moral Choices,
One-Year Reading Plan:
Exodus 37:1-38:31
Matthew 28:1-20
Psalms 34:11-22
Proverbs 9:9-10
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